Sarfaraz Ahmed

At least three incidents from Sarfraz's past gives us a clue how he might fare in this latest comeback.

Later, when he was again dropped from the team, Azam said the same, and Sarfraz went, “Bhai, every time I get fired from the team, you keep saying I am going to be the captain! Last night I reminded him about how I used to tell him that he would become the captain one day. When Sarfraz was dropped after making his debut against India in Jaipur, Azam first told him, “I believe you are going to be captain one day.” And Sarfraz laughed. Even in that Champions Trophy, he had faced a moment of self doubt after Pakistan’s loss to India early on in the tournament. He would claim that Mohammad Rizwan had confided to a cricketer that he would never let Sarfraz Ahmed come back into the team. Slowly the father warmed up to his cricket, but his father passed away when he was in U-19s.” Azam decided to immerse the kid into cricket to forget the pain and took a young Sarfraz to meet his idol Moin Khan at the PIA team. When he returned home after the Champions Trophy to Buffer Zone, sandwiched between Karachi and North Nazimabad, his house was engulfed by fans — some hanging off parapets of neighbours’ walls and balconies heaving with adrenalin and joy, the window-grills used as hanging points, as everyone jostled for a glimpse of the people’s star. “I told him, I couldn’t see the same confident captain I see in PSL. He has patiently waited for his chance, and it’s come now against New Zealand. Moin, who was Sarfraz’s idol, and reason why he turned from a seamer to a wicketkeeper when young, remembers telling him, “Tu yeh soch (Think of it this way), what if you are a success tomorrow? When the former Pakistan captain checked, he realised it was Sarfraz Ahmed from Australia. As it turned out, Sarfraz hit a brilliant life-changing cameo of 49, and followed it up with hundred against Ireland, and two years later his career has leapfrogged to stardom.